Orthodoxy arrived in China in 1685, more than
a century earlier than the first Protestant missionaries. Intermittent
border skirmishes in the Amur River area between troops of the Qing Emperor and
the Czar resulted in some Russians being taken prisoner. A priest by the
name of Maxim Leontiev was among the prisoners taken in 1685 to Beijing.
The Russo-Chinese accord of Nerchinsk in 1690 settled disputes but some of the
released prisoners decided to stay in China as naturalized citizens. The
Kangxi (Kang Hsi) Emperor gave a Guandi (Kwan Ti, the god of war) temple to them
as a temporary place of worship in Beijing, and the Orthodox named it the
Hagia Sophia Church. An icon of St Nicholas the Wonderworker was placed in
the church, which was subsequently renamed the Church of the Dormition.
The Emperor also gave Father Leontiev the title of an imperial official of the
seventh rank.

The Russian Government and Russian Church took
notice of the Kangxi Emperor’s consideration. In 1695 the Metropolitan
of Tobolsk issued documentation recognising the consecration of the Hagia Sophia
Church and encouraged Father Leontiev to work for the spread of Orthodoxy, and
to “pray not only for the Czar, but also for the Chinese Emperor”.
Czar Peter I (“the Great”) was from the beginning an enthusiastic supporter
of the Orthodox Church’s work in China. When Father Leontiev died, Peter
the Great obtained the Kangxi Emperor’s consent for Archimandrite Ilarion
Lezhaisky to take over in Beijing. The Archimandrite arrived in Beijing in
1715 with a priest, a deacon and other staff. This was the first Spiritual
Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in Beijing.

There were to be 20 tours, or delegations, of
the Spiritual Mission in Beijing, from 1715 through 1956, when Archbishop Viktor
returned to Russia following agreements reached between Nikita Khruschev and Mao
Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). Throughout the period of the Czars, the Spiritual
Mission worked closely with the Russian Government, often seeing a close
relationship between the furtherance of Russian interests and Orthodox
interests.

In the first century-and-a-half of its
presence in China, the Spiritual Mission did not attract a large following.
It is said that in 1860 there were not more than 200 Orthodox in Beijing,
including the descendants of naturalized Russians.

In the second half of the 19th century,
however, the Orthodox Church made bigger strides. The Spiritual Mission
was blessed with scholarly and religious clergy. Numerous translations
into Chinese of religious publications were made. By 1902 there were 32
Orthodox churches in China with close to 6,000 adherents. The church also
ran schools and orphanages.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1898 - 1900, an
anti-Western and anti-missionary uprising in China, saw violent attacks on
Chinese converts to Christianity. The Orthodox Chinese were among those
put to the sword, and in June every year we commemorate the 222 Chinese
Orthodox, including Father Mitrophan, who died for their faith in 1900 during
the upheavals.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the
Orthodox Church in China lost its traditional support base and had to fend for
itself. Any investments it made in the Czar’s bonds became valueless.
However it became the spiritual home of large numbers of anti-Bolshevik Russians
who left Russia for China, and the numbers of Orthodox in China swelled. By
around 1930 there were more than 50,000 Orthodox in China, mostly Russians.
Dioceses were established in Shanghai and Tianjin in addition to Harbin and
Beijing.

After the October Revolution the Orthodox
bishops in China came under the jurisdiction of the Synod of Russian Bishops
Outside Russia, convening in Karlovci, Yugoslavia, and subsequently in Munich
and New York. The surrender of the Axis powers at the end of World War II gave
rise to a change in the situation in the Far East, and the Moscow Patriarchate
resumed jurisdiction over the episcopate in China in the late 1940’s.

The Chinese People’s Republic was established in 1949 under the leadership of
the Chinese Communist Party, which had close relations with the Soviet Communist
Party in the 1950’s. Treaties were signed between the Chinese and Soviet
governments which provided for the turning over of Russian churches to Chinese
control. Archbishop Viktor, the last Russian bishop and leader of the 20th
Spiritual Mission, returned to the Soviet Union in 1956, drawing to a close a
variegated chapter in the history of Orthodoxy in China.

After the communists came to power in China
most of the Russians left for Australia, the United States and other places.
Now there are very few Russians left in China, and the numbers of the Orthodox
from the old Russian-organised dioceses have dwindled drastically. There
is only one functioning Orthodox church on the Mainland - the Pokrov church (the
church of the Protection of the Theotokos) in Harbin. The resident priest,
Father Grigori Zhu, is 75. There are about 18 parishioners who attend
Sunday services, most of them elderly. The youngest is 65. Yet on
the great feast of Easter this year, about 400 people filled the church - many
who have settled overseas, and their children, returned to the mother church in
Harbin for Pascha.

Pascha is the central message of Christianity.
God brings life out of death. What man or human organizations plan could
never get around or defeat God’s plan. Perhaps there were people who
expected, or even wanted, to see a dying Orthodox church in China. After
1997 this has totally changed.

Journey to Harbin

By Josef Kollar

When we arrived in Harbin, we asked where we
could find an active Orthodox Church only to learn that people only knew St.
Sofia, now the museum of Architectural Art. Had Metropolitan Nikitas not
given us the approximate address of the Church and Fr. Gregory’s name we
probably would not have located either.

The Holy Protection of the Virgin Church
stands in the heart of the city at 270 Bolshoi Prospect, about a ten minute walk
from the famous square with the figure of a snowflake. As we approached it
we saw what appeared to be an administration building behind a small structure
with a Russian three barred cross (picture). The administration building
now houses a school for beauticians, a beauty parlor and barber shop. The
church itself had workmen repairing the exterior. The gate to the street
was locked. There were no announcements or signs to indicate that this
indeed was an active church - very much in contrast to the Protestant church
which was 150 meters away and was full of parishioners and had signs in Chinese
and English announcing services. We walked a little further, but seeing no
more churches in the vicinity we decided to return to the one under repair.

When we asked for the priest, the workmen
directed us to the school for beauticians. We thought this strange, but
when we asked to speak with Fr. Gregory, we were pointed to the only door with
no signs or advertisements. This is where Fr. Gregory lives and has his
office. Fr. Gregory told us that he is 75, has family in Beijing, received
his seminary training at the Russian Ecclesiastical Academy in Shanghai and
began his priestly duties in Harbin in 1951.

He stated that 140,000 Russians used to live
in Harbin until the Communist takeover. Now his parish consists of 144
souls ranging in age from 68 to 92. On average, 18 come to liturgy on
Sundays. On Pascha, over 400 people, mostly from towns accross the
Russian border, attended services which are conducted in Church Slavonic.
When asked about young parishioners or Chinese faithful he said that a young
Chinese man, a student of Slavonic languages and a non-believer helps by reading
the Psalms on Sundays.

Because his church is undergoing capital
repairs, Fr. Gregory indicated that his biggest need is money to pay for the
church’s restoration. He has books and materials for church services,
but money is the most difficult to raise. Former residents of Harbin,
their children and grandchildren, come to visit from the USA and Australia.
They appear to be the source of most donations. A former priest from
Harbin, now a retired dentist in the USA comes to visit and has helped
considerably.

We hoped to attend Liturgy on Ascension
Thursday, but Fr. Gregory said the next service would take place upon the
re-opening of the church on June 20th. We asked whether one could go to
another church. He answered that this was the only active Orthodox Church
within the city’s limits. However, several years ago, the Chinese
government built a church 1 ˝ hours outside the city by taxi, but this was too
far and inconvenient for the parishioners. Originally, a cemetery adjoined
the church, but since it was located so close to the city’s centre, the
government removed it to its present location and built the new church there.

(Note of gratitude from the editor to Mr.
& Mrs. Kollar for their account of their trip to the Orthodox Church in
Harbin. We wish all the best and God’s blessings for them and their
family)

The Orthodox Church of the Holy
Protection of the Virgin in Harbin, China

"This
article is being re-published with permission from the Editor of The Censer,
the official monthly publication of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong
and Southeast Asia":